Vendors Score Big Gain in Options

New York — In another hit-and-miss, persistently trying year for U.S. public textiles companies, it was a feast-or-famine year for the skippers of those companies as well, some taking home more money, and others taking home considerably less.

Because of the musical-chairs nature of the business these days, with so many players wandering on or off the stage, an apples-to-apples comparison with last year is especially tricky: Only eight of the 12 players in this year's ranking were on board last year. But taking a look at those eight who survived from one year to the next, five got raises, while three took a hair cut.

As in past years, stock options had a lot to do with it.

Just how much? Consider this. In 2005, those 12 executives took home a combined total of $12.6 million in pay, more than twice the size of the whole group's paycheck of just $4.9 million during 2004. The entire difference can be accounted for by the $7.5 million in stock options exercised last year by Mohawk ceo Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum. But pull his options out of the equation, and the entire executive cadre's compensation edged up just 3.7%, barely more than the norm achieved by the average American worker.

Other big gainers last year were Thomas M. Duff, the ceo of Wellman, whose remuneration jumped by 54.5%, to $1.0 million; and E. Randall Chestnut, the turnaround architect at Crown Crafts, whose compensation package jumped up by 42.0%, to $561,000. In Chestnut's case, the difference was a performance bonus of $166,000, up from zero the year before.